My suggestion would be to lower your standards a little. There are some decent quality manufactured home on the northwest side of Portales for around $750. If you can't find anything, PM me. I've got 3 extra bedrooms in Clovis and could use a roommate honestly. I'm paying $1k/month, so it'd be $500 split.

There could certainly be some validity to that. I think my situation is more plagued by splashing/residual water rather than just really deep water crossings. If it's above my knees, I usually stay away.

The water crossings were slow. Unfortunately, I got a little overzealous on the muddy/flooded roads and must've sucked up water from that. Also slid into a deep flooded ditch that probably didn't help things..